Grade 1 Report Card Parent Guide

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As Singapore American School (SAS) continues to improve teaching and learning for all students, we know that parents and families are our most valuable partner. This is especially true as we adopt rigorous standards for what every child should know and be able to do in each subject area and grade level. These standards set high expectations for students, staff, and schools. Achieving these standards requires continuous progress monitoring and providing targeted support as needed.

Like teachers, parents need accurate and meaningful information--particularly information about student strengths and challenges in performing to high expectations--to better understand and support student learning. Standards describe what a student should know and be able to do at each grade level in all subjects. SAS has studied the use of a standards based report card for elementary students and believes this is a positive step in better communicating grade-level expectations for student learning. The report card provides valuable information on your student’s performance to the standards. The report card also provides information on your child's learning behaviors - work habits, behavior, and effort.

The standards based report card is helpful in many ways. First, it clarifies and reinforces consistent, high expectations for all SAS students. Second, the report card helps teachers, students, and families focus on the standards throughout the school year. Finally, and most importantly, the report card provides specific feedback on progress to the standards so students, families, and teachers can work together to set meaningful goals for improvement. Information on which big ideas and concepts each child has learned and what work is still needed for success helps ensure that your child receives additional support—at home and school—when needed.

This Parent Guide provides information about the report card, including additional background information, a description of proficiency levels, a sample report card, and further detail on the content area standards included on the report card. We hope you will find the Parent Guide and the standards based report card system helpful. Please feel free to us if you have questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

David Hoss Jennifer Sparrow

Elementary School Principal Executive Director of Teaching & Learning

Components of a Standards-Based System There are four essential components of a standards-based teaching, learning, assessment, and reporting system:

Definitions of Proficiency Levels Students are evaluated based on expected progress at that particular point in the school year. In other words, students who receive “S” or “Secure” are performing at the level expected for their grade at that point in the school year. Proficiency levels for academic standards are defined as follows: S - SECURE- Student consistently demonstrates understanding of concepts and skills. Student meets the grade level expectations. P - PROGRESSING- Student demonstrates growing understanding of concepts and skills. Student is beginning to or inconsistently meets grade level expectations. C - CONCERN- Student demonstrates significant difficulty in understanding the concepts and/or skill. Student is consistently below grade level expectations even with support services. Proficiency levels for learning behaviors are defined as follows: 3 - Student meets the behavioral expectation(s). 2 - Student inconsistently meets the behavioral expectation(s). 1 - Student seldom demonstrates the behavioral expectation(s).

Proficiency levels for World Language are described in an addendum attached to your child’s report card, the Interpersonal Oral and Interpretive Reading Score Descriptions.

Teachers may also indicate NA or NOT ASSESSED if the standard was not assessed during the semester.

Content&Standards& Curriculum&

Assessments& Report&Card&

The Content Standards describe what a student should know and be able to do at a given grade level.

A teacher uses Assessments to measure learning and the extent to which a student has met the grade level content standards.

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The standards-based Curriculum is a roadmap a teacher uses to ensure that Instruction targets the content standards.

The standards-based Report Card allows a teacher to communicate accurately a student’s progress towards meeting content standards at specific points

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Students Receiving ESOL, Math Resource, RLA Resource, and/or Speech and Language Therapy Services All students are graded according to grade level standards, in line with their peers, on the grade level report card. Proficiency levels given on the Standards-based Report Card are based on expectations for that grade level. For students receiving a support service, the following applies:

• ESOL: ESOL teacher will complete the RLA section of the report card for assigned students and will complete an additional report. • RLA Resource: Homeroom teacher, in consultation with the RLA Resource teacher, will complete the RLA section. The RLA Resource

teacher will complete an additional report. • Math Resource, Grades 3-5: Math Resource teacher completes the math section of the report card for assigned students and will

complete an additional report. • GATE MATH: GATE Math teacher will complete a separate report. • Speech and Language Therapy: Homeroom teacher will complete RLA section. An additional will not be included with the report card. Like grade level report cards, supplementary reports described above will be sent to parents by email. Each report will be delivered in a separate email message.

Sample Report Card

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The lines shaded gray are headings and students will not receive scores on these lines.&

Semester 1 is from August to December. Semester 2 is from January to June.&

Additional reports and/or comments will be attached for students receiving RLA Resource, math Resource, ESOL, and/or GATE Math services.&

Comments from the Homeroom, Art, Music, Physical Education, and World Language teachers will be found on pages two and three of the report card.&

Scores received reflect the degree to which students met grade level expectations for that point of the year.&

Academic content will receive S, P, or C. If the standard was not assessed, teachers will put a NA. Learning Behaviors will receive 3, 2, or 1.&

Report Card Guide – Parent Guide – Grade 1 – January 2015

Grade Level Explanation Standards are different for each content area and for each grade level. Each standard that is assigned a score on the standards-based report card is broken down into the components that a teacher considers when instructing, assessing and assigning a proficiency level to your child’s performance. Compare each content area chart to the corresponding content area of the report card to understand your child’s specific strengths and weaknesses. If you have questions specific to your child, please contact his or her teacher. In grade 1 reading, students continue to learn skills required for the beginning stages of reading. They explore the relationships between different letters, letter combinations, and sounds. Reading becomes more fluent as they learn skills to identify words and gain meaning from text. Students continue to learn about words and how to express themselves using spoken and written language. They write to share their ideas and explain what they have learned and participate in shared research projects. In math, students focus on four critical areas: (1) developing understanding of addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction within 20; (2) developing understanding of whole number relationships and place value, including grouping in tens and ones; (3) developing understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units; and (4) reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes. In science, students investigate air and weather (in homeroom), planets and animals (in science lab), and engineering (in science lab). In social studies, students explore “community” and what is their role within that community. They then focus on Singapore’s past and present, significant history, landmarks and cultural groups.

Reading Language Arts Reading Level Reading level is determined by a student’s ability to independently read grade level text. Elements assessed include accuracy, rate (speed), and literal

comprehension (answering questions found in the text) and inferential comprehension (“reading between the lines”). Note: To provide greater specificity on your child's reading ability, teachers may mark the reading standards independently of each other. If a student receives a “Progressing” or “Concern” for reading level, teachers will ask him or her to demonstrate comprehension of grade-level text through shared reading or after having a grade-level text read aloud to them, This will allow them to determine whether the struggle to read at grade level is because of difficulty with comprehension skills (Reading Comprehension: Literature and/or Reading Comprehension: Informational Text), decoding and fluency skills (Reading Foundational Skills) or both. This means that a student who receives a “P” or “C” for Reading Level might receive a “S” for Comprehension or Foundational Skills, providing you with a clearer picture of where attention and/or support needs to be given.

Reading Comprehension: Literature

Literature includes stories as well as poetry. • Key ideas and details (e.g., ask and answer questions about key details; retell stories) • Craft and structure (e.g., identify words and phrases that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses; explain major differences between books that tell

stories and books that give information) • Integration of knowledge and ideas (e.g., use illustrations and details in a story to describe setting or events)

Reading Comprehension: Informational Text

Informational text includes Literary Nonfiction and Historical, Scientific, and Technical Texts. • Key ideas and details (e.g., ask and answer questions about key details; identify main topic and retell key details) • Craft and structure (e.g., know and use various text features like headings, tables of content; distinguish between information provided by pictures

and information provided by words in a text) • Integration of knowledge and ideas (e.g., use illustrations and details to describe key ideas)

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Report Card Guide – Parent Guide – Grade 1 – January 2015

Reading Language Arts (continued) Reading Foundational Skills and Reading Behaviors

• Print Concepts (i.e., understand the organization and basic features of print) • Phonological Awareness (i.e., demonstrating understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds) • Phonics & Word Recognition (i.e., know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words) • Fluency (i.e., read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension) • Effective Reading Behaviors (e.g., begin to use strategies to select “just right” books; read for an increasingly longer period of time with stamina; read

independently and with a partner) Writing Different Genres (Text Types and Purposes)

• Write informative/explanatory texts in which students name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure • Write narratives in which students recount appropriately sequenced events, include some detail regarding what happened, use temporal words to

signal event order, and provide some sense of closure • Research to build and present knowledge

Writing Processes (Production & Distribution of Writing)

• With guidance and support, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed

Writing Behaviors • Read own writing • Begin to reflect on and self-assess writing • Begin to write for an increasingly longer period of time

Listening & Speaking

• Comprehension and collaboration (e.g., participate in collaborative conversations (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 1 topics and texts, following agreed upon rules for discussion; ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail)

• · Presentation of knowledge and ideas (e.g., describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly) Language Skills (Conventions & Grammar

• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking (e.g., print all upper- and lowercase letters; using common, proper, and possessive nouns; using frequently occurring adjectives)

• Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing (e.g., capitalize names of people; use end punctuation for sentences; spell untaught words phonetically)

• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words based on grade 1 reading and context, choosing from an array of strategies

Math Operations & Algebraic Thinking

• Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction • Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction • Add and subtract within 20 • Work with addition and subtraction equations

Numbers & Operations in Base Ten

• Extend the counting sequence • Understand place value • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract

Measurement & Data

• Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units • Tell and write time (in hours and half-hours) • Represent and interpret data

Geometry • Reason with shapes and their attributes

Report Card Guide – Parent Guide – Grade 1 – January 2015

Science Air and Weather

(Earth Science)

• Use simple tools to measure weather conditions and record changes from day to day • Know that the weather changes from day to day • Know that the sun warms the land, air, and water • Understand that air is a gas that takes up space and can be compressed into a smaller space • Observe the force of air pressure pushing on objects and materials • Use vocabulary associated with air and weather (e.g., temperature, thermometer, measure)

Science Skills • Record observations and data with pictures, numbers, or written statements

Social Studies History: Applies Historical Thinking

• Understand historical chronology and the concepts of time, continuity, and change (e.g., that neighborhood and city communities can change over time)

• Understand there are multiple perspectives • Use history to understand the present

Geography: Applies a Spatial Perspective

• Understand location, physical and cultural characteristics of places and how these are represented spatially (e.g., recognize basic map symbols; locate home, neighborhood, Singapore on a visual representation; recognize and explain similarities and differences between their family and families of other culture)

• Understand human interaction with the environment (e.g., recognize Singapore landmarks; understand that land in Singapore is used for different purposes)

Civics: Applies Understanding of Rights and Responsibilities

• Understand key civic ideals and principles and roles, rights and responsibilities of citizenship (e.g., identify different roles and responsibilities of people within the school)

• Understand the purposes, organization, and function of rules, laws, governments and political systems (e.g., understand community is dependent on each of its members to function effectively)

• Understand civic involvement (e.g. how students can contribute to their community) Economics: Applies Understanding of Economic Concepts

• Understand concepts and function of economic system (e.g., people in a community work in jobs that support the needs of the community; people earn income by working)